Very few villages in Jharkhand have Gram Sabhas that are not only functioning but also making development plans to be implemented by government agencies. Manjhladih village of Chapudia Panchayat in Jamtara district boasts to be one of them.
The small village comprising four Tolas and 126 families did not have the concept of Gram Sabha about eight months ago. However, the entry of Lok Jagriti Kendra supported by PHIA and APPI made a big difference. The village has a properly functioning Gram Sabha today, where villagers not only discuss individual issues but chart out development plans for themselves.
“About a year ago Gram Sabha was an alien concept for the villagers. When LJK workers begun their work and tried to make villagers understand the value of local self governance they had to face resistance. Sometimes they had to virtually drag the villagers to attend a meeting. But, with one meeting after another the residents started taking interest in the working of the Gram Sabha. As of today, the frequency of meetings has increased to twice a month,” says Gram Pradhan of the village Nunu Ram Mahto.
“For the last six months we have been holding meetings regularly and discussing issues like education, health, old age and disability pension, status of Anganwadi centre, drinking water and sanitation etc. We are also keeping written records of the decisions taken in the meetings along with attendance of the villagers. LJK representatives have made us aware about a lot of things including PESA law and Gram Sabha structure,” says Gopal Mahto.
Women are also taking part in the meetings very enthusiastically. Purnima Devi (35) says, 
“There is a lot of difference in the orientation of women in the village. We remember that in the first Gram Sabha meeting a couple of women were brought here very hesitantly. Now, they come out at the forefront and voice their opinions on various issues.”
There are seven women Self Help Groups in the village and after reorganization of the Gram Sabha they are planning several activities like organic farming, using sewing machines, selling products made by them, using water pumps for irrigation purposes etc. An SHG has been granted a small tiller machine also that they are planning to use for vegetable farming.
“The biggest achievement of our Gram Sabha is that we have prepared our Village Development Plan. With the help of LJK personnel we also prioritized the needs of the village and submitted it to the Mukhiya of our Panchayat. It was a tedious task to prepare a list of demands, make maps and remove individual differences for the plans but we finally did it and hope to get the required funds from the budget allocation of 2019-20,” says Namita Devi.